An overview of social determinants of health in Africa

Despite Africa’s natural endowments, the continent remains perpetually impoverished decades after independence. Africa must leverage its endowments to modernize and prosper. Although being integrated in the global capitalist systems, Africa is also simultaneously marginalized and deprived of resources for its people. Thus, Africans experience abject poverty with a distinctively unequal access to quality social determinants of health. The structured inequities and inequalities are traced to colonial legacy, a determinant of health in Africa. Illuminating the structure upon which colonial legacy shapes public policy for distributing social, cultural, economic, and political resources across Africa is necessary for health. The chapter recommends disrupting colonial legacy to gain control over Africa’s resources, end the practice of exporting raw materials by promoting added value at source, end profit hemorrhaging through dubious practices of transnational corporations, reduce reliance on foreign debts, and invest in human capital and modern infrastructure to create green jobs.